Mike Nadel: Horning in on Vikings' turf

Tuesday

Doo-DOO! Doo-DOO! How many times will the Chicago Bears hear that freakin’ horn Sunday at the Metrodome?

Doo-DOO! Doo-DOO! How many times will the Chicago Bears hear that freakin’ horn Sunday at the Metrodome?

Here comes Adrian Peterson, running through arm tackles and faking the Bears out of their cleats ... and then: Doo-DOO! Doo-DOO! That doggone horn! Followed by the “Skol, Vikings!” song and other crud pumped over the loudspeakers at the joint Mike Ditka said should host livestock shows, not football games.

The Bears’ ears should be ringing already - extra motivation for a defense that will be tested a tad more than it was in its previous game.

See, this dome won’t be quite as friendly for the Bears as the last one was. They might as well have been the home team in St. Louis, where fans booed the stumblebum Rams and cheered the heroes in white, navy and orange.

This opponent won’t be quite as friendly, either.

The Vikings have many flaws - they are quarterbacked by Gus Frerotte, they are dreadful pass defenders, their special teams reek and they are poorly coached. Still, because they can run and stop the run, they have won five of their last seven games to overcome a 1-3 start and pull even with the Bears atop the NFC North.

The Bears won last month’s meeting at Soldier Field by the ridiculous score of 48-41. Peterson ran wild, as usual, but the Bears scored twice on special teams and Kyle Orton had one of his best days as a pro.

Orton hasn’t played very well in two games since returning from a sprained ankle, so I don’t like the Bears’ chances if they give up 41 points again.

Coach Lovie Smith called it “the biggest game we’ve had in our division in a long time,” and he’s right. Not since 2003 - the year before Smith arrived - have the Bears played in a late-season division game that meant as much to both teams.

A loss would hurt the Bears but it wouldn’t kill them. Three of their last four games are at home, and their schedule is much easier than Minnesota’s is.

A victory, meanwhile, would give the Bears a one-game lead and the tiebreaker advantage. They’d be tough to catch.

One week before dominating the Rams, the Bears were absolutely humiliated at Green Bay. So who are the “real” Chicago Bears?

For the answer, we need only count how many times that Metrodome horn sounds.

---

JUSTICE SERVED

Michael Vick has been jailed, disgraced and bankrupted.

Although he did an awful thing - running a dogfighting ring and killing animals - he will have paid his debt to society.

Even after he is released from federal prison next summer, he will be on probation for three years under terms of a plea agreement he made Tuesday with the state of Virginia. If he commits any more crimes, he’ll go away for a long, long time.

At 28, Vick is still young enough to rebuild his career and salvage his reputation - if some team will let him.

Prison is supposed to be about rehabilitation and reintroduction into society. I’d like to see Michael Vick get one more chance to do what he was born to do.

---

YOUNG LOVE

Hall of Famer Steve Young, now an ESPN analyst, was asked to pick the eventual NFC North winner.

“Honestly,” he said, “I don’t care.”

He then talked about the strength of the East and South before saying:

“I don’t look for who’s just making the playoffs but who can advance. Someone’s gonna win (the North) ... I just don’t know that it really matters.”

Pressed for a prediction, Young tabbed the Packers - who followed their beatdown of the Bears by giving up 51 points in Monday’s loss at New Orleans.

What a division.

---

CRYSTAL BALL

Though the Bears and Vikings will not combine for 89 points again, expect another exciting game filled with big plays because neither team has a reliable defense.

Most national “experts” still talk up a Bears’ D that ranks 15th even after Sunday’s romp against the St. Louis High JV squad.

While the hype is based on 2005 and 2006, when the defense actually was ferocious, Lovie’s lads did perform well in this season’s two nationally televised night games: a victory over Philadelphia that included a late goal-line stand, and an impressive triumph at Indianapolis in the opener.

Can the Bears make it three straight under the stadium lights and national glare?

Or will it be a rerun of The Adrian Peterson Show?

Doo-DOO! Doo-DOO! It says here the horn will sound at least once too often for the visitors’ liking.